YouTube debuted YouChoose 2020, a series of interactive videos related to the 2020 U.S. election. The YouTube Originals series allows viewers to start with a single introductory video, and then watch separate videos focused on different elements of the voting process. These extra videos have different YouTube meme themes (like cooking, dancing, and auto repair),…
Snapchat is helping its users learn about voting in the 2020 U.S. election via its Elections 2020 hub. This hub includes a Voter Guide, which features information about voting by mail, voting early and more. Our guide will show you how to access the Voter Guide in the Snapchat application. Note: These screenshots were captured…
With Election Day almost a month away and major platforms like Facebook not accepting political ads in the days leading up to Nov. 3, marketers are looking to take messaging outside. Adomni, the digital out-of-home (OOH) ad-tech company, is welcoming political marketers with open arms, offering them a chance to display ads in more than…
Snapchat shared a milestone Thursday, saying that it has helped over 1 million of its users register to vote for the 2020 presidential election, doubling the total from its similar efforts for the 2018 midterm elections in the U.S. Based on data from TurboVote, Snap Inc.’s partner for its nonpartisan, in-application voter registration tools, Snap…
Twitter removed roughly 130 accounts that appeared to originate in Iran for attempting to disrupt the public conversation during the first presidential candidates’ debate Tuesday night. The social network said in a Twitter Safety tweet that it took action based on intelligence provided by the FBI. The accounts were identified and removed, and full details…
Ahead of the November elections, Facebook is continuing to tweak its advertising policies. The social media company announced Wednesday evening that it will ban ads that executives believe “delegitimize the outcome of an election” and will formally ban ads that promote QAnon conspiracy theories. Ads on Facebook and Instagram that call voting methods “inherently fraudulent…
Within hours of the year’s first nationally televised presidential debate on Tuesday night, T-shirts with the words, “Stand back, stand by,” and the Proud Boys logo were selling on Amazon. President Donald Trump coined the phrase during his heated, 100-minute exchange with Democratic candidate Joe Biden. Asked by moderator Chris Wallace of Fox News whether…
After a summer of extra attention on how social media platforms handle moderating content, Facebook revealed new details about how it will operate its oversight board as criticism continues to pour in. The board is expected to begin hearing cases of whether the company should reverse decisions to remove organic posts in “mid-to-late October” and…
Snapchat is taking to the airwaves, airing a spot on national television and across select markets in the U.S. during the first presidential candidates’ debate Tuesday night. The spot is part of nonpartisan, multi-week public awareness effort Show Up, which also featured public-service announcements starring former President Barack Obama earlier this month. The campaign is…
TikTok began rolling out its in-application 2020 Elections Guide to users in the U.S. Tuesday. The guide is available in English, Spanish and dozens of other languages, and it can be accessed via TikTok’s Discover page and in election-related search results. It includes information about candidates at the federal, state and local levels, powered by…
Facebook said over 1.7 million people clicked on the notification atop News Feed in its flagship mobile application to see information on volunteering as poll workers with their respective state authorities, estimating that this activity resulted in roughly 100,000 people signing up. Facebook Vice president of product and social impact Naomi Gleit shared state-specific information…
A voting rights group is broadcasting a warning about the state of American democracy by using a technology often feared for its own potential to subvert democracy. A new campaign from nonprofit RepresentUs and agency Mischief features deepfakes of authoritarian leaders Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-un issuing ominous pronouncements about the dangers of voter suppression…
Last fall, a full year before the 2020 U.S. presidential election, major social media platforms were already debating whether they should take political ad dollars. The platforms split into two groups: those that have banned political ads from their channels, such as Twitter, and those that allow political ads with restrictions, such as Facebook. If…
The first presidential candidates’ debate between incumbent Republican President Donald Trump and Democratic challenger and former Vice President Joe Biden will take place Tuesday night, and Twitter already has several initiatives in place. The debate will be livestreamed free-of-charge on Twitter at 9 p.m. ET Tuesday, featured atop the timelines of many users and accessible…
Pew Research Center Monday shared a study on U.S. adults who turn to YouTube for news and the channels they are turning to on the Google-owned website. The think tank surveyed 12,638 U.S. adults from Jan. 6 through 20, as well as conducting an analysis of the 377 most popular YouTube news channels as of…
A federal judge in Washington, D.C., today halted the Trump administration’s ban on new downloads of TikTok, hours before a midnight deadline would have compelled Apple and Google to drop the popular social media app from their marketplaces. Carl Nichols, a judge for the U.S. District Court for D.C., granted an injunction, allowing new app…
The Nov. 3 election is only weeks away and tech platforms are still tinkering with their policies on taking political ad dollars. Google told advertisers Friday that it will not allow election-related ads to run on any of its platforms after the polls close nationwide. Google spokesperson Charlotte Smith confirmed the decision to Adweek after…
A new study from Pew Research Center found that 54% of adults in the U.S. believe social media companies should not allow political ads, while 77% believe those platforms’ use of data about their online activities to show them political ads is not very or not at all acceptable. On the flip side, 45% of…
As social justice protests continue across the U.S., some people cannot or choose not to participate because of Covid-19. While there many ways to contribute to movements like Black Lives Matter, those who literally want their voice to be heard on the streets can make use of Say It With Me, a tool that lets…
YouTube rolled out additional information panels to be displayed when people search for information related to the 2020 presidential election. Users searching for 2020 presidential or federal congressional candidates will see an information panel with details about those candidates above their search results. Searches for specific queries related to voter registration will see an information…
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